Lily Potter and the Adventure to the Past
by Avarianna
Summary: Lily Potter is the only one who can save the world, wizarding and muggle alike. To save the future she must travel to the past and together with the Order read a book that will change the future of the world forever, a childhood story put to paper she shares the final story of her father's: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
1. Prologue

Prolouge

It was a seemingly quiet night at 318 Burrows Lane, to the outside world one would say it was as ordinary of a night as any. This could not be said however of the inhabitants of the apparently silent abode, inside around a long table were an oddly assorted group of individuals. 18 chairs were placed evenly on both sides with one decoratively comfortable one at each head, nearly chair was occupied each with an assortment of different people. These people where the few and the brave, the trusted and the like-minded, each offering their own attributes to the whole creating one spectacular entity. This was the Order of the Phoenix, founded by Albus Dumbledore himself in these 9 years past the time of Voldemort's rise to power. At one head of the table was Albus Dumbledore solemn gazed and powerful gazing around the room at everyone who was able to make it this night, his somber mood quieting even the most rowdy of it's members.

Meeting each persons gaze he began, "This meeting today, was brought about by a very extraordinary individual from an incredibly unique place. There is something that has been brought to my attention and in doing so opened a new perspective to the war, may I introduce to you Miss. Lily Potter." At James' startled look and Lily's raised brow the door to the room opened entering a young beautiful red hair girl no more than 17.

Her eyes were a blazing green that cut through the room landing on each individual with a mix of awe and wariness, clutched tightly in her arms was a book. A rather large book with the cartooned faces of three young adults on the cover seemingly pouring out of a Gringotts vault. She took a seat at the end of the table her spine straightening under each persons gaze, gently placing the book down she met the headmasters eyes and nodded resolutely. The people around the room shared speculative looks as the met each others gazes questions upon their face, respectfully keeping silent awaiting Dumbledore's next words.

"Before we begin I would like you to all be aware that everything said in this room is completely true and it is with great contemplation upon the consequences of both acting from this information and not acting that Miss Potter and I have decided to share with you the key to ending Lord Voldemort's reign of terror. Each of you must know that nothing said in this room is to be repeated to anyone, not even other order members. To prepare for this each of you must make a vow that this information will never pass your lips in the presence of any persons or creature other than those who are gathered here to day. Those of you unwilling to make this choice may leave at your own discretion."

A few indecisive looks were passed around until their faces cleared with resolve, as each person nodded he raised his wand before vowing "I Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore do so solemnly swear upon my magic that what we are about to learn from Miss. Lily Luna Potter shall not be repeated or let known to any persons, creature, or any other consciously aware being other than those who reside with me today until such a time as which Miss. Lily Luna Potter may relieve me of this oath." His wand flashed a brilliant blue before fading, each persons around the room echoing his words accompanied by their own blue flashes.

"Miss. Potter you may begin"

She looked around the room her hands clenching at her sides, "The first thing I must inform you all is that what I am about to tell you goes against many of the known laws governing the human understanding of magic, and as such you may find hard to believe. First I should introduce myself, my name is Lily Luna Potter. I am the daughter of Harry James Potter and Ginevra Molly Potter nee Weasley, I am 17 years of age and have just recently graduated from hogwarts" at this she paused looking around the room her gaze drawn to the right gazing upon the group of four before swallowing thickly "In the summer of 2014"

All at once the room started voice raising coming at her from all sides, "Enough!" a gruff voice commanded coming from the man at Dumbledore's right, "Quiet! Let the girl tell her tale" looking at the scar faced man with the whizzing blue eye in his left eye socket.

Nervously she looked at the one place she both dreaded and longed to look her eyes met with a pair of blazing emerald in a clash of recognition. Shocked and inquisitive was the gaze she received from her long since departed grandmother the famous and revered Lily Potter, the woman she was named after. "You all may have questions for me however I would like to save them for after I have finished or at least the majority of those questions." lifting the book she held it tight to her breast and let out a slow breath, "This is the combined work of my father and my Aunt Hermione, It is a written account of the second wizarding war against voldemort. There are seven books in total, they were originally written to explain to my brothers and I about my fathers journey at first they were like a diary but aunt hermione cast a spell so they've become more like story books. In basic terms they put many of my fathers memories into books." Her hands trembled as she let out a slow breath. "This one is essential to voldemort's defeat and the liberation of the wizarding world, I am going to read this book to you, because it is the best way for you to understand and because... I need my fathers memory to be honored in giving you this information and you need to honor him by receiving it in this manner. Now first of all to get started if you have any questions before we begin you may each ask me one starting from my left and going around the table" At this she nodded to the man seated at her left.

"Miss. Potter" he began, "my name is Elphias Dodge, and I would like to know is why did you come here? Did we lose?"

"Mr. Dodge, The answer to this question is both yes and no. In the year 1998 my father vanquished Lord Voldemort and we had many years of peace after that, however shortly after I began my schooling at hogwarts we learned that though he was defeated many of his followers and his ideals remained. In the fall of 2010 on the Anniversary of his death his legacy rose again except this time his followers did the unthinkable." she paused and looked around the room, "they broke the statue of secrecy" Everyone was stunned, pale-faced and wide-eyed. "It was a war unlike anything the world had seen yet, Factions appeared around the world every were from magic-phobic groups to magic-supportive groups, the merging of muggle technology and magic, wide spread panic. It was a reality unlike anything we'd seen before, witch burnings started again in remote areas around the world neighbors accusing neighbors. A mass hysteria spread around the globe, we tried everything we could Aunt was working on theories of trans-dimensional rifts and creating a world or quarantining a continent for our selves putting a continental fidelous charm over the entire continent, but nothing worked finally she stumbled across a tome talking about time and relativity and how it is constantly happening all in the same moment, I don't really get it myself but she created this theory that if we sent someone back in time then this never would have happened in the first place and to the persons sent back it was just stepping into a new reality. If nothing was changed event's would happen as they did before but if the person who was sent back was the correct person then they could alter the course of history and create a new world for life to continue."

Some appeared to have a small understanding, others very little. The lady next to Mr Dodge leaned forward "Why were you the one chosen to come back?"

"The simplest answer would have been because my magical core was of the correct wavelength but it was a number of different variables one of the most defining one was that because there was something here to anchor my soul to I would be able to stay and because of it's proximity to the events needing to be changed I was capable of changing things."

"And just what is this anchor that allows such possibilities?" A fellow ginger asked with a mischievous grin.

Pink tinged her cheeks as her gaze dropped to the book clutched in her hands, "That question is a bit personal" the look on his face said continue "It's because there was a person with whom my soul could resonate"

"Resonate?"

Lily Potter nee Evans cut in "It means that it's like a soul mate, It's someone who could become your bonded in other words complete to complete the whole his yang energy to her yin energy. It is a very personal question and you shouldn't bother her about it any further."

"Oh?" the man beside him said a challenging grin on his identical face "Well then MISS. Potter" he looked to her "who is this dashing soul mate of yours?"

Her eyes narrowed at him her chin raising "You've wasted a valuable question MR. Prewett, because I have no idea my aunt said to prevent and mistakes I would have to find them like everyone else in the world, so she refused to tell me."

He grumbled leaning back into his chair. "spoil sport"

"Lily, my name is Marlene MicKinnon, I would like to know why your father's memories are in particular so helpful in the defeat of Voldemort."

"Well to start that's a very difficult question the best answer I can give you is that without my father voldemort never would have been defeated, or rather because of voldemort my father was the only one who could defeat him."

"How does that work?" The man beside her questioned.

"Because one night a couple months from now Professor Dumbledore will be looking for a new divination teacher, he will get a reply from a witch related to cassandra Trelawney a renowned Seer. He would then have met her at hogs head where she was staying. There he would fined that she was a fake with none of her grandmothers talent however just as he was beginning to leave she recites a prophecy one that an eavesdropper only hears part of. There he will take it to his master who of learning this half heard prophecy decides to prevent it from happening but in doing so causes the prophecy to come about in the first place."

"So in other words it became a self-fufilling prophecy"

She nodded. "yes, in the end he brought about his own downfall."

Next she turned her gaze to Moody who grunted at her look, "just get on with it we can talk at the end."

Looking at dumbledore she gazed around the room, "is that okay?" most gave a nod however her grand parents and their friends look unsure, obviously wanting to learn more, "allot it explained in the book and I can answer questions as we go along if they aren't?" finally everyone nodded. "Okay, well to get started how we did this at home was each person would read a chapter. If you promise to take care we may do so here?"

"how about I start" Sirius said excitedly.

McGonagall frowned at him "let's start from left to right again beginning with Miss. Potter"


	2. The Dark Lord Ascending

The Dark Lord Ascending

**"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"** She started turning the page, **"The Dark Lord Ascending."**

**The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart, in the narrow, moonlit lane. For a second they stood quite still, wands directed at each other's chests; then, recognizing each other, they stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking briskly in the same direction.**

**"News?" asked the taller of the two.**

**"The best," replied Severus Snape.**

"Snivellus!" Sirius exclaimed.

Glaring at him lily snapped "Don't call him that!"

"Why"

"Just" She paused frowning "Don't, okay."

He looked at her oddly for a moment before shrugging and turning away.

**The lane was bordered on the left by wild, low-growing brambles, on the right by a high, neatly manicured hedge. The men's long cloaks flapped around their ankles as they marched.**

**"Thought I might be late," said Yaxley, his blunt features sliding in and out of sight as the branches of overhanging trees broke the moonlight. "It was a little trickier than I expected. But I hope he will be satisfied. You sound confident that your reception will be good?"**

**Snape nodded, but did not elaborate. They turned right, into a wide driveway that led off the lane. The high hedge curved with them, running off into the distance beyond the pair of impressive wrought-iron gates barring the men's way. Neither of them broke step: In silence both raised their left arms in a kind of salute and passed straight through, as though the dark metal were smoke.**

"Death eaters!" James growled his sentiment carried around the room. Dumbledore gazed sadly at the book thinking of the lost souls that had succumbed to the dark.

**The yew hedges muffled the sound of the men's footsteps. There was a rustle somewhere to their right: Yaxley drew his wand again, pointing it over his companion's head, but the source of the noise proved to be nothing more than a pure-white peacock, strutting majestically along the top of the hedge.**

**"He always fancied himself well, Lucius. Peacocks. . ." Yaxley thrust his wand back under his cloak with a snort.**

**The marauders snorted in unison. "Lucy always was full of himself" **

**A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive, lights glinting in the diamond-paned downstairs windows. Somewhere in the dark garden beyond the hedge a fountain was playing. Gravel crackled beneath their feet as Snape and Yaxley sped toward the front door, which swung inward at their approach, though nobody had visibly opened it.**

"Must be at Malfoy Manor."

**The hallway was large, dimly lit, and sumptuously decorated, with a magnificent carpet covering most of the stone floor. The eyes of the pale-faced portraits on the walls followed Snape and Yaxley as they strode past. The two men halted at a heavy wooden door leading into the next room, hesitated for the space of a heartbeat, then Snape turned the bronze handle.**

**The drawing room was full of silent people, sitting at a long and ornate table. The room's usual furniture had been pushed carelessly up against the walls. Illumination came from a roaring fire beneath a handsome marble mantelpiece surmounted by a gilded mirror. Snape and Yaxley lingered for a moment on the threshold. As their eyes grew accustomed to the lack of light, they were drawn upward to the strangest feature of the scene: an apparently unconscious human figure hanging upside down over the table, revolving slowly as if suspended by an invisible rope, and reflected in the mirror and in the bare, polished surface of the table below. None of the people seated under this singular sight was looking at it except for a pale young man sitting almost directly below it. He seemed unable to prevent himself from glancing upward every minute or so.**

"poor dear" mumbled dorcas

**"Yaxley, Snape," said a high, clear voice from the head of the table. "You are very nearly late."**

**The speaker was sitting directly in front of the fireplace, so that it was difficult, at first, for the new arrivals to make out more than his silhouette. As they drew nearer, however, his face shown through the gloom, hairless, snakelike, with slits for nostrils and gleaming red eyes whose pupils were vertical. He was so pale that he seemed to emit a pearly glow.**

"Is that?" Remus questioned looking at lily intently.

"Yeah" lily muttered "After a ritual to return to the flesh he became even more... monstrous"

**"Severus, here," said Voldemort, indicating the seat on his immediate right. **

**"He's his right hand man!" Sirius shouted in disgust glowering.**

**The Lily of the present looked down at the table hurt shining in her eyes as james held her hand tightly.**

**"Oh sev, what have you gotten yourself into" She whispered.**

**"Yaxley –beside Dolohov."**

**The two men took their allotted places. Most of the eyes around the table followed Snape, and it was to him that Voldemort spoke first.**

**"So?"**

**"My Lord, the Order of the Phoenix intends to move Harry Potter from his current place of safety on Saturday next, at night fall."**

**"That BASTARD!" **

"SIRIUS BLACK!"

Going on she ignored their squabbling-

**The interest around the table sharpened palpably: Some stiffened, others fidgeted, all gazing at Snape and Voldemort.**

**"Saturday . . . at nightfall," repeated Voldemort. His red eyes fastened upon Snape's black ones with such an intensity that some of the watchers looked away, apparently fearful that they themselves would be scorched by the ferocity of the gaze. Snape, however, looked calmly back into Voldemort's face and, after a moment or two, Voldemort's lipless mouth curved into something like a smile.**

**"Good. Very good. And this information comes—"**

**"— from the source we discussed," said Snape.**

"A Traitor?"

**"My Lord."**

**Yaxley had leaned forward to look down the long table at Voldemort and Snape. All faces turned to him.**

**"My Lord, I have heard differently."**

**Yaxley waited, but Voldemort did not speak, so he went on, "Dawlish, the Auror, let slip that Potter will not be moved until the night before the boy turns seventeen."**

**Snape was smiling.**

**"My source tells me that there are plans to lay a false trail; this must be it. No doubt a Confundus Charm has been placed upon Dawlish. It would not be the first time; he is known to be susceptible."**

**"I assure you, my Lord, Dawlish seemed quite certain," said Yaxley.**

**"If he has been Confunded, naturally he is certain," said Snape. "I assure you, Yaxley, the Auror office will play no further part in the protection of Harry Potter. The Order believes that we have infiltrated the Ministry."**

**"The Order's got one thing right, then, eh?" said a squat man sitting a short distance from Yaxley; he gave a wheezy giggle that was echoed here and there along the table.**

Every one was solemn at the idea.

**Voldemort did not laugh. His gaze had wandered upward to the body revolving slowly overhead, and he seemed to be lost in thought.**

**"My Lord," Yaxley went on, "Dawlish believes an entire party of Aurors will be used to transfer the boy—"**

**Voldemort held up a large white hand, and Yaxley subsided at once, watching resentfully as Voldemort turned back to Snape.**

**"Where are they going to hide the boy next?"**

**"At the home of one of the Order," said Snape. "The place, according to the source, has been given every protection that the Order and Ministry together could provide. I think that there is little chance of taking him once he is there, my Lord, unless, of course, the Ministry has fallen before next Saturday, which might give us the opportunity to discover and undo enough of the enchantments to break through the rest."**

**"Well, Yaxley?" Voldemort called down the table, the firelight glinting strangely in his red eyes. "Will the Ministry have fallen by next Saturday?"**

"Oh god" marlene whispered horsely.

**Once again, all heads turned. Yaxley squared his shoulders.**

**"My Lord, I have good news on that score. I have – with difficulty, and after great effort – succeeded in placing an Imperius Curse on Pius Thicknesse."**

**Many of those sitting around Yaxley looked impressed; his neighbor, Dolohov, a man with a long, twisted face, clapped him on the back.**

**"It is a start," said Voldemort. "But Thicknesse is only one man. Our people must surround Scrimgeour before I act. One failed attempt on the Minister's life will set me back a long way."**

**"Yes – my Lord, that is true – but you know, as Head of the Department o Magical Law Enforcement, Thicknesse has regular contact with not only the Minister himself, but also with the Heads of all the other Ministry departments. It will, I think, be easy now that we have such a high-ranking official under our control, to subjugate the others, and then they can all work together to bring Scrimgeour down."**

**"As long as our friend Thicknesse is not discovered before he has converted the rest," said Voldemort. "At any rate, it remains unlikely that the Ministry will be mine before next Saturday. If we cannot touch the boy at his destination, then it must be done while he travels."**

**"We are at an advantage there, my Lord," said Yaxley, who seemed determined to receive some portion of approval. "We now have several people planted within the Department of Magical Transport. If Potter Apparates or uses the Floo Network, we shall know immediately."**

**"He will do neither," said Snape. "The Order is eschewing any form of transport that is controlled or regulated by the Ministry; they mistrust everything to do with the place."**

**"All the better," said Voldemort. "He will have to move in the open. Easier to take, by far."**

**Again, Voldemort looked up at the slowly revolving body as he went on. "I shall attend to the boy in person. There have been too many mistakes where Harry Potter is concerned. Some of them have been my own. That Potter lives is due more to my errors than to his triumphs."**

"Arrogant prick" Sirius muttered, sulking down as McGonagall glared at him.

**The company around the table watched Voldemort apprehensively, each of them, by his or her expression, afraid that they might be blamed for Harry Potter's continued existence. Voldemort, however, seemed to be speaking more to himself than to any of them, still addressing the unconscious body above him.**

**"I have been careless, and so have been thwarted by luck and chance, those wreckers of all but the best-laid plans. But I know better now. I understand those things that I did not understand before. I must be the one to kill Harry Potter, and I shall be."**

**At these words, seemingly in response to them, a sudden wail sounded, a terrible, drawn out cry of misery and pain. Many of those at the table looked downward, startled, for the sound had seemed to issue from below their feet.**

**"Wormtail,"** -"WHAT!" Sirius bellowed getting to his feet james and remus behind him, "Did you say Wormtail?" At her nod he growled kicking his chair "THAT TRAITOR, I SHOULD KILL HIM WERE HE STANDS! TURNING TO VOLDEMORT THAT COWARDLY SNIVELING RAT!"

Remus put his hand on his shoulder, "Sirius calm down let's get through this book and then we can think about how to deal with the rat."

James ran his hand through his hair shaking his head "How could he just betray us? Spy on us? After everything, and he just..." Sighing he sit back down grabbing lily's hand his thumb stroking her as he shook his head. "Sirius, Remus, sit down this is more important than that traitor."

They sit down sirius as glares at the back wall his eye's light with a fire of rage.- **said Voldemort, with no change in his quiet, thoughtful tone, and without removing his eyes from the revolving body above, "have I not spoken to you about keeping our prisoner quiet?"**

"Traitorous rodent" sirius snarls fingers clenching the arms of his chair.

**"Yes, m-my Lord," gasped a small man halfway down the table, who had been sitting so low in his chair that it had appeared, at first glance, to be unoccupied. Now he scrambled from his seat and scurried from the room, leaving nothing behind him but a curious gleam of silver.**

**"As I was saying," continued Voldemort, looking again at the tense faces of his followers, "I understand better now. I shall need, for instance, to borrow a wand from one of you before I go to kill Potter."**

**"Why does voldemort need to borrow a wand?"**

**"His and Harry's have a core from the same Phoenix their brother wands, they won't fight against each other.**

**The faces around him displayed nothing but shock; he might have announced that he wanted to borrow one of their arms.**

**"No volunteers?" said Voldemort. "Let's see . . . Lucius, I see no reason for you to have a wand anymore."**

**"HA! Lucy loses his wand!" **

**Lucius Malfoy looked up. His skin appeared yellowish and waxy in the firelight, and his eyes were sunken and shadowed. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse.**

**"My Lord?"**

**"Your wand, Lucius. I require your wand."**

**"I . . ."**

**Malfoy glanced sideways at his wife. She was staring straight ahead, quite as pale as he was, her long blonde hair hanging down her back, but beneath the table her slim fingers closed briefly on his wrist. At her touch, Malfoy put his hand into his robes, withdrew a wand, and passed it along to Voldemort, who held it up in front of his red eyes, examining it closely.**

**"What is it?"**

**"Elm, my Lord," whispered Malfoy.**

**"And the core?"**

**"Dragon – dragon heartstring."**

**"Good," said Voldemort. He drew out his own wand and compared lengths. Lucius Malfoy made an involuntary movement; for a fraction of a second, it seemed he expected to receive Voldemort's wand in exchange for his own. Voldemort, whose eyes widened maliciously, did not miss the gesture.**

**"Give you my wand, Lucius? My wand?"**

"How stupid can you be?"

**Some of the throng sniggered.**

**"I have given you your liberty, Lucius, is that not enough for you? But I have noticed that you and your family seem less than happy of late . . . What is it about my presence in your home that displeases you, Lucius?"**

**"Nothing – nothing, my Lord!"**

**"Such lies, Lucius . . ."**

**The soft voice seemed to hiss on even after the cruel mouth had stopped moving. One or two of the wizards barely repressed a shudder as the hissing grew louder; something heavy could be heard sliding across the floor beneath the table.**

**The huge snake emerged to climb slowly up Voldemort's chair. It rose, seemingly endlessly, and came to rest across Voldemort's shoulders: it's neck the thickness of a man's thigh; it's eyes, with their vertical slits for pupils, unblinking. Voldemort stroked the creature absently with long thin fingers, still looking at Lucius Malfoy.**

**"Why do the Malfoys look so unhappy with their lot? Is my return, my rise to power, not the very thing they professed to desire for so many years?"**

**"Of course, my Lord," said Lucius Malfoy. His hand shook as he wiped sweat from his upper lip. "We did desire it – we do."**

**To Malfoy's left, his wife made an odd, stiff nod, her eyes averted from Voldemort and the snake. To his right, his son, Draco, who had been gazing at the inert body overhead, glanced quickly at Voldemort and away again, terrified to make eye contact.**

**"The poor boy"**

**"My Lord," said a dark woman halfway down the table, her voice constricted with emotion, "it is an honor to have you here in our family's house. There can be no higher pleasure."**

"Bellatrix" Sirius spat.

**She sat beside her sister, as unlike her in looks, with her dark hair and heavily lidded eyes, as she was in bearing and demeanor; where Narcissa sat rigid and impassive, Bellatrix leaned toward Voldemort, for mere words could not demonstrate her longing for closeness.**

**"No higher pleasure," repeated Voldemort his head tilted a little to one side as he considered Bellatrix. "That means a great deal, Bellatrix, from you."**

**Her face flooded with color; her eyes welled with tears of delight.**

**"Is she in love with him? She sounds mad." **

"She was in Azkaban for over 14 years what do you expect."

"What did she get caught with?"

Avoiding the question she continued reading.

**"My Lord knows I speak nothing but the truth!"**

**"No higher pleasure . . . even compared with the happy event that, I hear, has taken place in your family this week?"**

**She stared at him, her lips parted, evidently confused.**

**"I don't know what you mean, my Lord."**

**"I'm talking about your niece, Bellatrix. And yours, Lucius and Narcissa. She has just married the werewolf, Remus Lupin. You must be so proud."**

"REMUS!" Sirius cried "You old dog snagged yourself a young wife I see, little dora to." He smirked wagging his finger at the pale wolf.

Everyone was looking at him amused as he muttered to himself about marrying a 7 year old.

**There was an eruption of jeering laughter from around the table. Many leaned forward to exchange gleeful look; a few thumped the table with their fists. The great snake, disliking the disturbance, opened its mouth wide and hissed angrily, but the Death Eaters did not hear it, so jubilant were they at Bellatrix and the Malfoys' humiliation. Bellatrix's face, so recently flushed with happiness, had turned an ugly, blotchy red.**

**"She is no niece of ours, my Lord," she cried over the outpouring of mirth. "We – Narcissa and I – have not seen our sister since she married the Mudblood. This brat has nothing to do with either of us, nor any beast she marries."**

**"What say you, Draco?" asked Voldemort, and though his voice was quiet, it carried clearly through the catcalls and jeers. "Will you babysit the cubs?"**

"Jerk"

**The hilarity mounted; Draco Malfoy looked in terror at his father, who was staring down into his own lap, then caught his mother's eye. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, then resumed her own deadpan star at the opposite wall.**

**"Enough," said Voldemort, stroking the angry snake. "Enough."**

**And the laughter died at once.**

**"Many of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time," he said as Bellatrix gazed at him, breathless and imploring. "You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest."**

"Disgusting! Murdering your own family!"

**"Yes, my Lord," whispered Bellatrix, and her eyes swam with tears of gratitude. "At the first chance!"**

**"You shall have it," said Voldemort. "And in your family, so in the world . . . we shall cut away the canker that infects us until only those of the true blood remain. . . ."**

**Voldemort raised Lucius Malfoy's wand, pointed it directly at the revolving figure suspended over the table, and gave it a tiny flick. The figure came to life with a groan and began to struggle against invisible bonds.**

Eyes grew moist around the table at the poor soul's terrible fate

**"Do you recognize our guest, Severus?" asked Voldemort.**

**Snape raised his eyes to the upside-down face. All of the Death Eaters were looking up at the captive now, as though they had been given permission to show curiosity. As she revolved to face the firelight, the woman said in a cracked and terrified voice, "Severus! Help me!"**

**"Ah, yes," said Snape as the prisoner turned slowly away again.**

**"And you, Draco?" asked Voldemort, stroking the snake's snout with his wand-free hand. Draco shook his head jerkily. Now that the woman had woken, he seemed unable to look at her anymore.**

**"But you would not have taken her classes," said Voldemort. "For those of you who do not know, we are joined here tonight by Charity Burbage who, until recently, taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."**

"NO!" McGonagall cried aghast as everyone's face whitened.

**There were small noises of comprehension around the table. A broad, hunched woman with pointed teeth cackled.**

**"Yes . . . Professor Burbage taught the children of witches and wizards all about Muggles . . . how they are not so different from us . . ."**

"That's because they aren't"

**One of the Death Eaters spat on the floor. Charity Burbage revolved to face Snape again.**

**"Severus . . . please . . . please . . ."**

**"Silence," said Voldemort, with another twitch of Malfoy's wand, and Charity fell silent as if gagged. "Not content with corrupting and polluting the minds of Wizarding children, last week Professor Burbage wrote an impassioned defense of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. Wizards, she says, must accept these thieves of their knowledge and magic. The dwindling of the purebloods is, says Professor Burbage, a most desirable circumstance . . . She would have us all mate with Muggles . . . or, no doubt, werewolves . . ."**

Every one was glaring at the book as if it were voldemort himself.

**Nobody laughed this time: There was no mistaking the anger and contempt in Voldemort's voice. For the third time, Charity Burbage revolved to face Snape. Tears were pouring from her eyes into her hair. Snape looked back at her, quite impassive, as she turned slowly away from him again.**

**"Avada Kedavra."**

"NO!"

**The flash of green light illuminated every corner of the room. Charity fell, with a resounding crash, onto the table below, which trembled and creaked. Several of the Death Eaters leapt back in their chairs. Draco fell out of his onto the floor.**

**"Dinner, Nagini," said Voldemort softly, and the great snake swayed and slithered from his shoulders onto the polished wood.**

Closing the book she passed it to Mr. Dodge fingers lingering on the cover.


End file.
